Spiritual Double Agents

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Spiritual Double Agents

By David F. MaasForerunner, "Ready Answer," January 2001

Several months ago one of the vice-presidential candidates metaphorically shed his skin like a snake, adoptinga new set of issues and principles totally at variance from the ones he had formally championed in his long

Senate career. Alarm bells should have gone off earlier when this same individual, like the mythical, two-facedgod Janus, on one hand soundly rebuked and reprimanded the President's shameful and despicable behaviour,but then voted to acquit him when it came to the actual impeachment vote.

Recently members of our prior fellowship also metaphorically shed their skins, opting to acclimate themselvesto the world's pagan religious customs. Just a few short weeks ago, people with whom we have rubbedshoulders for many years did things that would have shocked us only a decade ago. One enthusiasticWorldwide Church of God member wrote, "It's great to see the [Ambassador] Auditorium decorated for Christmas! I got to see the Nativity display in the Auditorium lobby today. It is in between the candelabra'sbeneath the dedication. It is fabulous! My family is looking forward to singing the traditional Christmas carols atthe Auditorium services this month."

Evidently, many people who have attended services with us over the last several decades may have gone

through the motions of Christian behaviour—but their hearts were never in God's work or His truth. Some mayhave attended with the attitudes of keeping their options open—hedging their bets, so to speak. God Almightyhas never been impressed with a partial commitment. God describes the Laodicean mind-set as having onefoot firmly planted in the world's culture and the other tentatively in God's way: "I know your works, that you areneither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither coldnor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth" (Revelation 3:15-16).

God Almighty demands that, before He begins to work with us, we make a firm choice and then stick to thatchoice until we find ourselves composed totally of spirit. Jesus warns his disciples: "No one, having put hishand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God" ( Luke 9:62). Of course, we remember Elijah's ultimatum to the people: "How long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him;but if Baal, then follow him" (I Kings 18:21).

God says choose but then burn all bridges to the former way of life. Some of us, I fear, have maintained open-ended options, contingency plans, and escape clauses in our relationship with God. Like the Laodicean, welook at our spiritual contract with a view of finding loopholes and exploiting the blessings. It is apparent thatsome of us still approach our calling with the attitude of "what can I get away with and still appear to be aChristian?"

Of One Mind or Two?

The initial impetus for exploring this double-mindedness was a continual stumbling over James 1:6-8. Our Creator promises us wisdom—but only under the condition that we do not waver or be double-minded. I havesweat plenty over these verses through the years, having had to battle indecision. Likewise, when I pray, I haveproblems concentrating. I have battled doubts and fears when I have asked to be anointed.

But are simple mind wandering or normal doubts the subject of James' reprimand? Or is it something else?Perhaps mind-wandering, indecisiveness, and doubting are more symptomatic than the actual causes of double-mindedness.

The apostle Paul writes that anyone who comes to God must believe that He is and diligently seeks Him(Hebrews 11:6). If we are in a conference with a human being, it is rude to tune him out, fall asleep on him, or become distracted. Some of my students have done that to me—giving me an insight on how God must feelwhen our minds wander when we pray, study, or meditate. Inattention and mind wandering, although they arerelated to double-mindedness, do not seem to be what James had in mind.

The anguished father in Mark 9:24 who says, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!" might be accused of beingdouble-minded, but he is not. He desperately wants to believe, and he asks for help. He is not of two opinions.

The Greek word translated "double-minded" in James 1:8, dipsuchos, in its literal sense means "double-souled," like having two independent wills. The words "with no doubting" in verse 6 are translated from theGreek words meedén diakrinómenos, which describes one divided in mind, who wavers between two opinions.



Some may wonder whether the apostle Paul, when he complains, "For the good that I will to do, I do not do; butthe evil I will not to do, that I practice" (Romans 7:19), was exercising double-mindedness. This state of strugglethat goes on in all of us is not the same as double-mindedness. Paul's mind, he goes on to explain, is focusedone way, in one direction (verse 22), but inherent in the flesh of every human being is an innate enmity towardGod and His law (verse 23; 8:7). Just like Paul, we also fail to keep God's law perfectly because we havehuman nature in us that is perpetually at war with God's Holy Spirit in us.

All of us have a deep-seated desire to be at one with ourselves. We will not realize this desire until we aretotally composed of spirit. Until then, we can expect a spiritual tug of war to go on perpetually. As more of God'sSpirit flows through us, renewing our minds and displacing our carnality, we will find it easier to keep our carnalnature in check. All of us, I trust, can point to certain areas in our lives that are now under control—but which atone time were not under control. The spiritual struggle occurring in all of us between our spiritual and carnalnatures is not double-mindedness.

A Man With Two Minds

Double-mindedness is literally having two separate minds holding contradictory thoughts. Double-mindednessoccurs in a church member when he has an implicit or explicit knowledge of God's law, yet deliberatelyharbours a sin, choosing to conceal it, repress it or ignore it.

James supports this explanation of double-mindedness in James 4:8: "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts you double-minded." Anything one willinglydoes or does not do that is contrary to God's law (verse 17) makes one guilty of double-mindedness. Double-mindedness depends on knowledge of and a wilful intent to reject God's law, as the psalmist writes in Psalm119:113: "I hate the double- minded, but I love your law." We can see an analogous example in the recentelection decisions handed down by the Florida Supreme Court. The U.S. Supreme Court soundly rebuked it for ignoring the real federal and state laws and statutes and wilfully making up its own.

On the other side, being synchronized with God's law is equated with singleness of purpose and leads to peaceof mind and a feeling of wholeness. The same psalmist writes, "Great peace have those who love your law, andnothing causes them to stumble" (Psalm 119:165).

God's law itself is the vehicle of wisdom that the petitioner requests in James 1:5. It would be absurd for

someone to ask to be filled with the spirit of the law and simultaneously be determined not to keep it.Sometimes we inadvertently do this when we ask a minister or counsellor for advice on a problem—but havealready purposed in our minds to do it our own way. Then when the minister tells us something that goesagainst what we have purposed to do in our inner being, a highly uncomfortable state of dissonance emerges.

Harbouring any secret sin puts a tremendous strain on the nervous system. Psychologists have a name for thisemotional/psychological turmoil: cognitive dissonance, literally "inharmonious thought." Some time ago, atelevision program called I Led Three Lives aired. It told the story of an American FBI agent, Herbert Philbrick,who posed as a Communist to learn the enemy's secrets. To do his job effectively, he had to diligently keepthings sorted out and compartmentalized. The television drama portrayed the mental strain that thisprofessional agent had to endure to live a lie.

People who were once part of our fellowship but no longer worship with us frequently report that they feel more

at peace with themselves now than at any time they were in the church. This should not surprise us. Whensomeone tries to submit to God's law with a carnal mind, unbearable cognitive dissonance occurs. The nervoussystem plunges into a tailspin until it achieves a sense of equilibrium or wholeness. Carnal nature does not feelcomfortable in the light of God's law: "Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to thelaw of God, nor indeed can be" (Romans 8:7). The easiest way to find equilibrium is to reject the beliefs thatsend them into a spiritual dither.

Some people who once sat among us complain about feeling like hypocrites (actors) enduring our services,knowing that, once the services were over and they were safely out of the parking lot, the mascara applicator would be whipped out and the cigarette lit up. Others perhaps burned in contempt for a spouse or a brother or sister, serving as Satan's double agent.

Alibis and Excuses

We do not need to have the fears we sometimes associate with James 1:6-8. We can take comfort in theknowledge that mind-wandering and normal doubts and fears, while they are undesirable and should be rooted



out, are not really what James has in mind. He is warning against double-mindedness. Double-mindednessrequires knowing God's law and making a premeditated effort to subvert it and then justify the behaviour.

Double-mindedness did not apparently apply to Uzzah, who broke God's law in ignorance or foolishness (IISamuel 6:6-7). However, it does apply to Saul, whom God ordered to destroy the Amalekites totally, but onlyaccomplished 80% of his objectives (I Samuel 15). When confronted with his compromise, Saul makes a wholeseries of excuses. Excuses and alibis are the defence mechanisms used by double-minded people. If we put

sin out of our lives as soon as we find it, or as soon as it is pointed out to us, we do not have to worry aboutmaking and remembering excuses or alibis.

Double-mindedness occurs when we harbour a sin and still appear to live God's way. Tares, during their formative (immature) period, look just like wheat, yet mature wheat and tares do not look the same (Matthew13:30). Over time, the tare is exposed because it does not mature like the wheat. So a double-minded"Christian" will become obvious by his lack of fruit and worldly, hypocritical attitude and behaviour. Interestingly,God leaves the tares among the wheat ultimately to benefit the wheat.

A double-minded person cannot have God's Holy Spirit within him (Romans 8:5, 8-9; Galatians 5:16-17). Jesussays we cannot serve two masters because our allegiance will really be to one or the other ( Matthew 6:24).One cannot be a double agent with the world and a member of God's church ( II Corinthians 6:17-18; I John2:15-17).

God demands that we choose one way or the other—but not straddle the fence. We cannot have it both ways.Unless in the battle between the spirit and the flesh we throw down the gauntlet in favour of our spiritual selves,we run the risk of being torn to pieces psychologically and emotionally.

Recall Psalm 119:113: "I hate the double-minded, but I love your law." Notice that the antidote to double-mindedness is yielding to God's law. Wholeness and singleness of purpose are the result of keeping God's lawthrough the power of Christ working in us. As our Lord reminds us in His Sermon on the Mount, "The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good [single, KJV; focused, directed], your whole body will be full of light" (Matthew 6:22).

© 2001 Church of the Great GodPO Box 471846

Charlotte, NC 28247-1846(800) 878-8220 / (803) 802-7075

Additional Reading:Goats on the LeftThe Shepherd's VoiceBe Still!

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Spiritual Double Agents